According to an article posted by Brett Winterford, at the start
of July Oracle closed down the three servers that Sun
Microsystems had been contributing to the build farm for
PostgreSQL, to ensure PostgreSQL was stable on Solaris. The servers
were reportedly shut down without warning.

PostgreSQL is an open source database, and an alternative to
Oracle’s freshly-acquired MySQL database. The PostgreSQL build farm
is a distributed, automated build and verify system that
automatically updates whenever PostgreSQL developers change the
source code, to test whether the update will cause problems with a
particular operating system. The results are uploaded to a central
server, where they are monitored by PostgreSQL developers and
users.

“It’s a vital piece of the infrastructure for developing
PostgreSQL,” Dunstan told iTnews. “Before it existed, if some
change we made broke on some platform, it was often weeks or months
before we found out about it. Now we know within hours…..if they
had given us, say, three months warning, I’d have been less
peeved.”

Ad hoc Workflows is a plugin for adding new capabilities to your
Wiki. This release adds support for Confluence 3.3 and updates
integration with the Content Publishing Plugin. Triggers can now be
fired against paired pages and the page state on a draft space can
be changed when a page in the public space is updated. There are
also a number of bug fixes.

This plugin is a Cobol parser that allows users to perform
objective and automated Cobol code reviews against pre-defined or
user-made coding best practices. SQL and CICS statements embedded
inside Cobol can also be analysed. The plugin reuses available Open
Source Sonar core services, including Hotspots and Code viewer with
syntax highlighting.

Which Version of Java Should Seph Target?

Ola Bini is currently deciding whether his new Seph
programming language should target Java 5/6, Java 7, or Java 7 with
extensions.

He refers to Java 5/6 as the “easiest way to go forward,”
resulting in a low barrier to entry. However, targeting Java 7
would mean method handles, invoke dynamic and defender methods –
which Bini refers to as “killer features.” But, of course, Java 7
doesn’t exist yet and the timeline is uncertain, making Java 7 a
“moving target.” The final option of Java 7 with extensions, would
mean using some non-complete features of Java 7 in order to gain
community feedback and force the feature to become more
complete.

Have your say on which version Seph should target, at Bini’s
blog!

Buzz Firehose Feed Built From Open Source

John Panzer has revealed that Google’s new Buzz Firehose feed
was built exclusively on non-proprietary protocols and formats.